Biodegradation of crystal violet dye by Saccharomyces cerevisiae in aqueous medium.

Crystal violet (CV) is an azo dye with cationic nature, belonging to the triphenylmethane group. This study was designed to optimize CV removal by S. cerevisiae from aqueous solutions using BBD model. Harvested cells of S. cerevisiae were locally obtained from Iran Science and Technology Research Organization (ISTRO). The decolorization tests were performed in a laboratory container containing a 100 cc of reaction solution under different variables, including yeast dose (0.5-1.5 g/L), pH (4-10), dye concentration (10-100 mg/L), and the reaction time of 24 h. After stirring with a magnetic shaker at a speed of 400 rpm, 10 cc of each sample was taken and centrifuged at 4000 rpm for 10 min to separate the biomass from dye solution. Then, the supernatant was filtered and finally the remaining CV was measured by a spectrophotometer at λmax 590 nm. After the optimization of the factors mentioned above, the removal efficiency of this dye was investigated at the reaction times of 0.5-72 h. The findings indicated that CV removal ranged from 53.92 to 84.99%. The maximum CV removal was obtained at the CV concentration of 100 mg/L, the pH of 7, and the S. cerevisiae dose of 1.5 g/L. The findings showed that the elimination efficiency is directly related to the initial CV concentration, pH, and S. cerevisiae dose. However, during the reaction time, the elimination efficiency decreased slightly. The findings of this study proved that CV can be removed from aqueous solutions with an easy and low-cost method based on the use of indigenous microorganisms.

The impact of particulate matters on apoptosis in various organs: Mechanistic and therapeutic perspectives.

Ecological air contamination is the non-homogenous suspension of insoluble particles into gas or/and liquid fluids known as particulate matter (PM). It has been discovered that exposure to PM can cause serious cellular defects, followed by tissue damage known as cellular stress. Apoptosis is a homeostatic and regulated phenomenon associated with distinguished physiological actions inclusive of organ and tissue generation, aging, and development. Moreover, it has been proposed that the deregulation of apoptotic performs an active role in the occurrence of many disorders, such as autoimmune disease, neurodegenerative, and malignant, in the human population. Recent studies have shown that PMs mainly modulate multiple signaling pathways involved in apoptosis, including MAPK, PI3K/Akt, JAK/STAT, NFκB, Endoplasmic Stress, and ATM/P53, leading to apoptosis dysregulation and apoptosis-related pathological conditions. Here, the recently published data concerning the effect of PM on the apoptosis of various organs, with a particular focus on the importance of apoptosis as a component in PM-induced toxicity and human disease development, is carefully discussed. Moreover, the review also highlighted the various therapeutic approaches, including small molecules, miRNA replacement therapy, vitamins, and PDRN, for treating diseases caused by PM toxicity. Notably, researchers have considered medicinal herbs a potential treatment for PM-induced toxicity due to their fewer side effects. So, in the final section, we analyzed the performance of some natural products for inhibition and intervention of apoptosis arising from PM-induced toxicity.

Non-coding RNAs: An emerging player in particulate matter 2.5-mediated toxicity.

Exposure to air pollution has been connected to around seven million early deaths annually and also contributing to higher than 3 % of disability-adjusted lost life years. Particulate matters (PM) are among the key pollutants that directly discharged or formed due to atmospheric chemical interactions. Among these matters, due of its large surface area, PM2.5 may absorb a different harmful and toxic substances. One of the outcomes of such environmental disturbance is oxidative stress which affects cellular processes including apoptosis, inflammation, and epithelial mesenchymal transition. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNA) such as, miRNAs, lncRNAs, and circRNAs are classified as non-protein coding RNA's. Over the past few years these small molecules have been gaining so much attention since they participate in variety of physiological and pathological processes and their expression change during disease periods. Regarding epigenetic properties, ncRNAs play an important function in organism's response to environmental stimulus. In this manner, it was revealed that exposure to PM2.5 may cause epigenetic reprogramming, such as, ncRNAs signature's alteration, which can be effective concerning pathophysiology state. In this review, we describe PM2.5 impact on ncRNAs and excavate its roles in toxicity caused by PM2.5.

Health impacts quantification attributed to ambient particulate matter in the nearest Iranian city to the main dust source.

Urban air contamination is one of the ten most dangerous parameters for human health, which causes cardiovascular disease, respiratory, metabolic diseases, and decreased lung function. Air Q is a reliable software for studying the impacts of atmospheric contaminants on human health, and today, it is widely used in the environment. The purpose of this research was to quantify the mortality and morbidity rates that corresponded to ambient particulate matter (PM) in Rigan City. To perform this, the Air Q software was used. The findings reflected that the yearly mean values of PM10 and PM2.5 are 264.83 and 50.45 µg/m3. The findings indicated that the PM10 and PM2.5 content in Rigan was above standard levels described by WHO. The total number of deaths, cardiovascular deaths, and respiratory deaths due to PM in Rigan were estimated as 70.3, 45.8, and 10.7 persons, respectively. Hospital admissions for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases correlated to PM10 were estimated at 154.2 and 59 persons, respectively. Acute myocardial infarction associated with PM2.5 was 2.7 persons. Overall, the data in this study may be helpful to national and regional policymakers who are responsible for managing and preventing atmospheric contamination and assessing the costs of health risks.

Simultaneous Electrochemical Determination of Chlorzoxazone and Diclofenac on an Efficient Modified Glassy Carbon Electrode by Lanthanum Oxide@ Copper(I) Sulfide Composite.

This study synthesized a La2O3@snowflake-like Cu2S composite to fabricate an electrochemical sensor for sensitively simultaneous detection of diclofenac and chlorzoxazone exploiting an easy hydrothermal approach, followed by analysis with XRD, FE-SEM, and EDX methods. According to voltammetric studies, the electrocatalytic diclofenac and chlorzoxazone oxidations on the electrode modified with La2O3@SF-L Cu2S composites were increased, with greater oxidation currents, as well as the oxidation potential was significantly decreased due to synergetic impact of La2O3@SF-L Cu2S composites when compared with the pure SF-L Cu2S NS-modified electrode. The differential pulse voltammetry findings showed wide straight lines (0.01-900.0 µM) for La2O3 NP@SF-L Cu2S NS-modified electrode with a limit of detection (LOD) of 1.7 and 2.3 nM for the detection of diclofenac and chlorzoxazone, respectively. In addition, the limit of quantification was calculated to be 5.7 and 7.6 nM for diclofenac and chlorzoxazone, respectively. The diffusion coefficient was calculated to be 1.16 × 10-5and 8.4 × 10-6 cm2/s for diclofenac and chlorzoxazone oxidation on the modified electrode, respectively. Our proposed electrode was examined for applicability by detecting diclofenac and chlorzoxazone in real specimens.

Structure-Property Relationship for Different Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles and its Drug Delivery Applications: A Review.

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) are widely used as a promising candidate for drug delivery applications due to silica's favorable biocompatibility, thermal stability, and chemical properties. Silica's unique mesoporous structure allows for effective drug loading and controlled release at the target site. In this review, we have discussed various methods of MSNs' mechanism, properties, and its drug delivery applications. As a result, we came to the conclusion that more in vivo biocompatibility studies, toxicity studies, bio-distribution studies and clinical research are essential for MSN advancement.

Probabilistic risk assessment of soil contamination related to agricultural and industrial activities.

Soil contamination related to industrial and agricultural activities were associated with many adverse health effects and climate change could exacerbate this effect. However, the evidence on this topic in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) is still scarce. We, therefore, aimed to investigate the heavy metals (HMs) concentrations in topsoil around Lake Urmia (which dried about 50 % of it in recent years). Accordingly, 96 surface soil samples were collected from an area of about 4000 km2 in 2019. An inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) was used to measure the HMs concentrations, including cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), chromium (Cr), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn). Health risk assessment of exposure to HMs was performed using Monte Carlo simulations technique. The mean concentrations of Zn, Cu, Ni, Co, Pb, Cr, As and Cd were 68.66, 35, 31.66, 15, 14.4, 11.2, 7.04, and 0.26 mg/kg, respectively, which was in the allowable range of USEPA guideline. The mean enrichment factor (EF) values for Zn, Cd, Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb, Co and As were1.3, 1.9, 1, 1.2, 1.7, 2.8, 1.8 and 2, respectively. Carcinogenic risks of exposure to HMs for inhalation, dermal and ingestion exposure pathways were at safe level. Similarly, the hazard index (HI) was at safe level (HI < 1). The sensitivity analysis indicated that the exposure duration (ED) for As, exposure frequency (EF) for Cd and Ni, concentration (Csoi) for Cr and Pb had the highest impact on ELCR values. Our finding confirmed that HMs concentrations around Lake Urmia had no health risk for inhabitants.

Advanced treatment of effluent extended aeration process using biological aerated filter (BAF) with natural media: modification in media, design and backwashing process.

Biological aerated filters (BAFs) have high filtration efficiency due to their tolerance of hydraulic and organic shocks are suitable for the treatment of complex and sanitary wastewater. In this study, for the first time, natural media of date kernel from Bam city was used as the BAF reactor media, with a meshing sand filter separated by a standard metal grid from the natural filter section used at the end of the reactor. This can be considered an innovation in the media and filtration. Aeration in the related reactor with 160 cm height was performed bilaterally as up-flow and continuously by nozzles throughout the reactor media. In this work, the actual effluent of the hospital wastewater treatment plant was employed as the inflow wastewater to the reactor, and its organic and inorganic parameters were measured before and after the treatment by the BAF reactor. The backwashing process was also studied in three ways: bottom backwashing (TB), top backwashing (BB), and top and bottom backwashing (TBBS), to determine the amount of water consumed and to achieve the desired result. According to the results obtained in this study, the removal efficiencies of inorganic and microbial contaminants, amoxicillin and azithromycin were obtained as follows: BOD5: 98.48%, COD: 92.42%, [Formula: see text]: 99.4%, P: 93.3%, Coliforms: 97%, Color: 42.8%, Turbidity: 95%, Sulphate: 30%, TSS: 98.9%, Amoxicillin: 20% and azithromycin: 13%. In the backwashing process, the amount of water consumed in these three TB, BB, and TBBS methods were obtained 300, 164, and 118 L, respectively, So, TBBS method was selected as the optimal method. Based on the results obtained in this study, it is concluded that the BAF process with natural date kernel has a high efficiency in removing organic and inorganic contaminants from hospital wastewater, also the concentration of most of the effluent parameters was less or in accordance with EPA standard.

Spatial analysis and risk assessment of urban BTEX compounds in Urmia, Iran.

Land Use Regression models (LUR) are the most common tools to estimate intra-urban air pollutant exposure in epidemiological studies. However, number of available and published models in developing and middle up income countries is still scarce. Here, we developed seasonal and overall LUR models for the spatial distribution of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX) based on 20 monitoring stations and 166 potentially predictive variables (PPVs) in Urmia, Iran. Carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks of exposure to BTEX and its sensitivity analysis were assessed using a probabilistic approach. The mean and standard deviation (in brackets) of overall benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene were 12.83 (16.19), 27.03 (32.00), 4.72 (4.15) and 27.35 (29.36) µg/m3, respectively. In all models the R2 value of LUR models of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene and total BTEX ranged from 0.66 to 0.85, 0.61, 0.88, 0.72 to 0.94, 0.75 to 0.84 and 0.67 to 0.93. The root mean square error (RMSE) for leave-one-out cross-validations (LOOCV) for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene ranged from 7.48 to 10.31, 23.0 to 30.0, 3.40 to 6.90, 16.27 to 24.49, 36.10-50.0 µg/m3, respectively. The estimated lifetime carcinogenic risk (LTCR) indicated that ambient concentration of benzene is at a risk level for Urmia inhabitants (LTCR >10-6). Sensitivity analysis for LTCR model indicated that concentration of benzene (C) was the most effective variable in increasing the carcinogenic risk (correlation coefficient ranged from 0.97 to 0.98 for all models).

Modeling photocatalytic degradation of diazinon from aqueous solutions and effluent toxicity risk assessment using Escherichia coli LMG 15862.

In this study, modeling and degradation of diazinon from contaminated water by advanced oxidation process together with a new test for effluent bioassay using E. coli were investigated. The experiments were designed based on response surface methodology. Nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized using the sol-gel method. The shape characteristics and specifications of elements in the nanoparticles were characterized using scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive X-ray, respectively. Diazinon was measured using high performance liquid chromatography device and by-products due to its decomposition were identified by gas chromatography-mass (GC-MS). In the present study, effluent bioassay tests were conducted by defining the rate of dehydrogenase enzyme reducing alamar blue method. According to statistical analyses (R2 = 0.986), the optimized values for pH, dose of NPs, and contact time were found to be 6.75, 775 mg/L, and 65 min, respectively. At these conditions, 96.06% of the diazinon was removed. Four main by-products, diazoxon, 7-methyl-3-octyne, 2-isopropyl-6-methyl-4pyrimidinol and diethyl phosphonate were detected. According to the alamar blue reducing (ABR) test, 50% effective concentration, no observed effect concentration, and 100% effective concentration (EC100) for the mortality rate of E. coli were obtained as 2.275, 0.839, and 4.430 mg/L, respectively. Based on the results obtained, it was found that mentioned process was high efficiency in removing diazinon, and also a significant relationship between toxicity assessment tests were obtained (P < 0.05).

Optimization of photochemical decomposition acetamiprid pesticide from aqueous solutions and effluent toxicity assessment by Pseudomonas aeruginosa BCRC using response surface methodology.

Contamination of water resources by acetamiprid pesticide is considered one of the main environmental problems. The aim of this study was the optimization of acetamiprid removal from aqueous solutions by TiO2/Fe3O4/SiO2 nanocomposite using the response surface methodology (RSM) with toxicity assessment by Pseudomonas aeruginosa BCRC. To obtain the optimum condition for acetamiprid degradation using RSM and central composite design (CCD). The magnetic TiO2/Fe3O4/SiO2 nanocomposite was synthesized using co-precipitation and sol-gel methods. The surface morphology of the nanocomposite and magnetic properties of the as-synthesized Fe3O4 nanoparticles were characterised by scanning electron microscope and vibrating sample magnetometer, respectively. In this study, toxicity assessment tests have been carried out by determining the activity of dehydrogenase enzyme reducing Resazurin (RR) and colony forming unit (CFU) methods. According to CCD, quadratic optimal model with R2 = 0.99 was used. By analysis of variance, the most effective values of each factor were determined in each experiment. According to the results, the most optimal conditions for removal efficiency of acetamiprid (pH = 7.5, contact time = 65 min, and dose of nanoparticle 550 mg/L) was obtained at 76.55%. Effect concentration (EC50) for RR and CFU test were 1.950 and 2.050 mg/L, respectively. Based on the results obtained from the model, predicted response values showed high congruence with actual response values. And, the model was suitable for the experiment's design conditions.

Human health impact assessment of exposure to particulate matter: an AirQ software modeling.

The aim of this study was to assess the health impacts related to particulate matter less than 10 µm (PM10) exposure in the city of Yazd, Iran. For this aim, AirQ 2.2.3 software was used to model relationship between short-term exposure to PM10 and disease cases proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO). The annual mean concentration of PM10 was 97 µg/m3. The maximum concentration value of PM10 was measured during the summer (731 µg/m3). 4.988% (95%CI: 3.381-6.542%) of the total mortality, 7.3% (95%CI; 4.19-10.21%) of cardiovascular mortality, and 10.21% (95%CI; 4.19-14.89%) of respiratory mortality were related to the PM10 concentrations. Consequently, the AirQ software can provide valuable information about the importance of air pollution and the substantial impacts of PM10 on the society for policymakers.